Date: Fri 21-Feb-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

NUSAR-divers-rescue-McCarthy

Full Text:

Underwater Search And Rescue At The Ready - Even In Winter

(with photos)

Newtown Underwater Search and Rescue (NUSAR) members prepare for practice

diving at the Dickinson Park swimming pool.

NUSAR members, from left, Chief Diver Mike McCarthy, Diving Captain Tim

Conley, Assistant Chief Steve Belair, Jeff Kimball, President Karl Sieling,

Diving Lieutenant Adrian Vanderkroef, and Stuart Rieve.

Mike McCarthy explains his diving gear.

Mike McCarthy leaving the pool after a dive.

Adrian Vanderkroef.

-Bee Photos, Gorosko

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Strings of air bubbles rise to the water's surface at the Dickinson Park

swimming pool.

The bursting bubbles track north to south, then south to north, describing

scuba diver Mike McCarthy's direction of travel as he moves along the pool

bottom. About a third of the pool is covered with a thin sheet of ice.

To keep abreast of his movements, Mike's "diving buddy" on shore is connected

to him by a rugged nylon line. Within that line are telephone cables, which

allow Mike, who is wearing a full-face diving mask, to communicate with diver

Tim Conley on shore, who wears a headset and microphone.

Each month, members of Newtown Underwater Search and Rescue (NUSAR) gather at

one of several practice sites to sharpen their underwater skills. Training

continues year-round to prepare the divers for various weather and water

conditions they could encounter when called to an emergency.

Last Sunday, the NUSAR divers set up a practice zone along the eastern edge of

the Dickinson Park pool. The water temperature was 36 degrees.

The swimming area is a good place to practice rescue diving because its basin

is a known quantity, explained Mr McCarthy, who is NUSAR's chief of divers.

The approximately one-acre pool has a paved bottom; no strong currents; a

known depth, and does not contain obstructions.

NUSAR members also do diving drills at the Newtown High School swimming pool,

the cove on Lake Lillinonah near Alberts Hill Road, and in various sections of

Lake Zoar, including Shady Rest, Riverside, and the Southbury boat launch,

said Karl Sieling, NUSAR president.

Although average search and rescue dives involve going 30 to 50 feet down,

NUSAR divers have gone as deep as 90 feet in their work, Mr Sieling said.

NUSAR is composed of 17 people including 13 divers. The group has two female

members. The independent organization, which formed in 1990, is composed of

civilians and members of local volunteer fire departments. NUSAR is attached

to the town's civil preparedness unit.

NUSAR uses a former Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps ambulance as an incident

command post and to transport men and equipment to the scene of underwater

search and rescue operations. The organization conducts private fund raising

and receives some town funding for training.

In the past, the town bought a Buddy-Line communications system which allows

up to four divers to simultaneously communicate via underwater telephone

lines.

But the divers supply their personal diving gear, explained Adrian

Vanderkroef, NUSAR's lieutenant who is a master diver and also a mechanical

engineer. A diver's gear can cost $2,500.

Unlike some dive teams that primarily recover drowning victims or salvageable

objects, NUSAR is set up to do rescue work, Mr Vanderkroef said.

"We're actually a `first-responder,'" said Mr Sieling, explaining that members

go directly to the scene of emergencies when contacted by radio paging

devices.

"We train for rescue. Recovery is the last thing we want to do," said Mr

Conley, who is NUSAR's diving captain.

He relates some details of a past incident in which a despondent woman

attempted to commit suicide by breaking through thin ice. NUSAR members were

able to pull her out of harm's way.

Recently, NUSAR members assembled to retrieve a car which had rolled into a

pond off Dinglebrook Road.

Since its inception, NUSAR has been involved in a range of diving-related

activities.

The group has participated in the recovery of about ten drowning victims. It

has found a safe which had been thrown into the water. It also has recovered

weapons as police evidence, McCarthy said.

On one dive, NUSAR even recovered a set of lost dentures, he quipped.

NUSAR Assistant Chief Steve Belair explained that, if needed, NUSAR can use

special lighting equipment for night-time diving.

The dive team has been using a member's damaged inflatable boat for its

underwater work. But a new vessel is needed to allow NUSAR to operate more

efficiently, Mr Sieling said.

In its budget request for the 1997-98 fiscal year, NUSAR is asking the town

for $10,000 to $12,000 to purchase an inflatable boat, boat trailer and

gasoline-powered boat engine. Such a boat would provide the dive team with a

strong, stable and maneuverable diving platform from which to do underwater

work, according to Mr Sieling.